


Pathfinder's Return

by Oblivion_Wanderer



Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: Gen, Post-Forsaken
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-15
Updated: 2018-12-15
Packaged: 2019-09-18 15:56:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16998063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oblivion_Wanderer/pseuds/Oblivion_Wanderer
Summary: Nelan returns to a very familiar place...





	Pathfinder's Return

**Author's Note:**

> Had this in my head since the Thunderlord mission. Had to get it written at some point.

When she had set aside time to investigate a lead on Master Ives’ death, Nelan hadn’t expected to find what looked like some sort of strange Fallen device in the middle of the EDZ.

She hadn’t expected to find that the device was a teleporter.

And she certainly hadn’t expected it to transport her to a very familiar place; a place dear to her heart.

She couldn’t see where she had been transported to at first, her sight temporarily blinded by the flash of the teleporter. Once she could finally see again, her surroundings came into place. A snow covered scene was before her; snow gently falling, cars rusting, a giant wall with a gaping hole in it.

No.

Nelan reached up and removed her helmet, her breath ghosting into the frigid winter air. She felt the familiar cold chill on her face, the same kind of chill she remembered first awakening to years ago; where she woke up to Ivo floating in her line of sight, greeting her in her new life.

She was back in Old Russia; in the Cosmodrome.

“We’re… here?” Her Ghost echoed in surprise, materializing and looking around. “Why bring us here?”

Nelan didn’t answer; she was overcome with the memories this place brought back. Instead she sank to her knees, the chill of snow seeping through her armor.

“Nelan?” Ivo flew down to her face, concerned. “Are you alright? Are you disoriented from the teleporter?”

“No! No...” The wind picked up and gusted by her face as she spoke. “We’re here, Ivo. Where it all began. Where me and you- where _we_ began.”

“Oh...” He paused, but then bumped his shell against her head in a kind gesture. “Yes, we are.”

The Cosmodrome wasn’t just another ruin for Nelan. For her, it was the site of her resurrection, where Ivo rose her from the dead. The Light within her, her solar fire, was ignited within her here. She met the other half of her soul here. This is where Nelan the Gunslinger began.

In a life before, this is where her ship had crashed; sabotaged. She had died here, and then raised again centuries later. The old ship still lay nearby; rusted like the cars. Ivo had dug her name out of the logs he could salvage and gave it to either of them knowing the truth of it. Other things had happened here over the years, and she remembered it all. Over those years too, she would come here with Ivo to celebrate her rebirth. Her rebirth fell around the time of the Dawning, so when that time of year came around they would come here for this occasion.

In more recent years though, after the SIVA Crisis, Old Russia had been ordered into quarantine for some reason she couldn’t understand. She could only theorize it had something to do with SIVA, but none the less, she could no longer journey here.

Being back here after so long though, it was strangely like a homecoming, and not like the one full of Taken and Taken wish dragons. Being back in the familiar winter grounds of the Cosmodrome was a strange respite from the death and curses and darkness of the past few months. She welcomed the cold with open arms.

Unfortunately, Amanda’s voice cut through the coms. “Ok, got your singal. Where’d you- oh my cotton socks! The Cosmodrome?! Hang on-”

Nelan let out a half-hearted laugh, wondering if she got that from Cayde. “Yeah, I know.”

“There. I scrambled your location. Zavala won’t know you’re breaking the quarantine on Old Russia. Just stick to the Wall, ok?”

“Uh, yeah… Sure; got it.”

“I know you miss the place, but all hell’s gonna break loose if the big guy finds out you’re there. I can cover you, but see if you can find any clues.”

Nelan remembered; she was here to find the end of the trial. She got up and dusted the snow off her armor, placing her helmet back on.

“Let’s find the end of this road, Ivo.” She said to him. Ivo dematerialized and she began her trek back into the Wall.

“Do you remember first coming through here?” Ivo commented in their headspace. “Brings me back...”

“We haven’t been able to come here since the quarantine was placed. I missed this place, Ivo.”

“I know. Infested with Fallen as it was, and with SIVA over in the Plaugelands, I know what this place means to you.”

She went along the old path into the wall; the same path she had taken her first steps as a Guardian in. Everything was familiar from that day; the day where everything changed… for her at least. She remembered fighting Fallen in these halls, being clumsy with her singular weapon. It was not the best of starts, but it was the beginning of something.

Her search now for answers to a murder lead to a group of Fallen she found in one of the more open areas. A memory came to mind of standing on the catwalk, cast all in darkness except for Ivo, who told her that he would be right back for her as he tried to get lights on. She tracked the group to the room where she had fought a small group of Fallen, and there Fallen waited.

The fight that unfolded was much like her first in this room. It was a familiar dance, though she was only trying to get her footing back then. This time, however, she was more experienced. She fought more confidently and with ease, even when she was faced down with a high ranking and powerful Fallen, a Captain, who came out of the shadows to try and kill her. Nelan fought this Fallen with everything she had, catching a couple close calls, but nothing she had experienced before. This wasn't like her first encounter with the Taken or Gelida. Fallen she knew; they had tried to kill her when she still had no idea what was going on. Fallen was the most familiar enemy, like the Vex were to Lucy and like the Hive were to Murph.

Her enemy tried to hide behind a Servitor it summoned, but she broke that too, piercing it with the solar light of her Golden Gun, before turning the last bullet on the Captain and striking it down. She cleared the rest of the room of Fallen with her Graviton Lance, but most scattered. 

With the fight was done, she radioed back Amanda to tell her the news. She told the Hunter to hurry back because the trick wouldn’t work forever. Sadly, Nelan knew she was right.

She headed back to the teleporter, but she also made a side trip to what remained of her crashed ship. When she got there she observed it, reflected on it’s meaning as the snow fell still. To think that her death here meant the beginning of something else, though it had happened centuries later.

“Hey...” Ivo’s voice softly called. “We’ll come back someday. I know what Amanda said, but I know you. This won’t be the last time.”

Nelan had to smile at that. “No it is not.”

Returning to the teleporter, she took one last look around before stepping on the plate.

‘ _One day.’_ She thought as her world flashed white as it returned her to the EDZ.


End file.
